Directions
by SilverBellsWhiteWhistles
Summary: Eren reflects from his behind-the-counter position at 7-Eleven on his disappointing New Year's Eve. Modern!AU, Ereri, Riren, Rivaere, rated T for Levi's awful language.


**My own New Year's Eve served as inspiration here. Hope you enjoy! (Insert Disclaimer Here)**

* * *

"Hey, I'm a little lost... How do I get to the Season Ticket from here?"

"Ermmm… Let me grab Annie. She can probably tell you."

Eren Jaeger wasn't very good with directions. Or driving in general, really. So when his forever-stoic coworker stepped up from the shelves to deliver desired instructions to get to said sports bar, the brunette was left to contentedly mope behind the counter over his ill fortune.

Picking irritably at his nails, the teen tried to drown out the sounds of both the ancient heater his boss had forgotten to replace for the third year in a row and his own pessimistic thoughts.

Bad with directions? What a joke. Eren Jaeger couldn't drive a car around his own block without getting lost.

He'd _tried _to get to his destination, though, he had to give himself that. With neatly printed and handwritten instructions taped over his horn, a map with his route highlighted, and a GPS, the teen thought he had a good chance of reaching his target. With a recently earned license, however, Eren wasn't exactly used to actually executing instructions while driving. It ate at him to think of the fact that he was still working on breaking smoothly. A reliable driver, the teen was not.

This was especially difficult to admit, of course, when the man who lived at the address he'd been trying to get to was twenty-six years old and a far more experienced driver than he.

Eren could remember (or couldn't forget, rather) the day Levi had stepped into 7-Eleven for some, "Goddamn coffee, and that shit better be hot if you expect me to pay for it." At his surprisingly short stature, the gangly teen had towered over the well-dressed man. Dark brows narrowed irritably over a sour expression that distinctly reminded the sophomore of a cat meme he'd seen from one of his classmates, and hair parted perfectly went well to balance out his seemingly rebellious undercut. The overall impact, although not quite the stereotypical businessman, was that of an adult that a teen would typically avoid at all costs.

Eren wasn't exactly the average teen, however, and it took him nearly an entire minute to stop staring at the decidedly handsome man before writing his phone number down on the receipt with shaking fingers and a shy gaze.

The sophomore had a feeling that Levi's call that evening wasn't really about the cold coffee, despite the man's harsh and insistent words. Levi had been coming back for that same cold coffee every day Eren worked for three weeks, however, so he wasn't going to pry.

Levi probably wasn't a perfect driver or anything like that—well, his OCD tendencies may have spoken for the other side of that argument—but he could have definitely made it to Eren's place with an address and simple instructions without a problem. With a full time job and more responsibilities than the teen could even think of, the black haired man certainly had the right to laugh at Eren's struggles with simple things like his trigonometry class. The thought led the brunette to admire his crush a little bit more… and to scowl at his own shortcomings.

Young. Awkward. Inexperienced. Loud. Shitty brat. Sure, they were treated like endearments, but weren't they also true? Insecurity fell over him like a blanket of cold snow, the very same snow that had fallen last night when Levi had called him—Eren shuddered.  
_  
"Where the fuck are you, shitty brat?"_

"Ermmm… On my way? I think? I'm kind of pulled over on some residential I think. I'm not very good with directions—even though yours were good. They're great, actually! But I'm not the best driver, and there's snow, and—,"

"Jaeger."

"—I know I said it'd be cool to come over, but it may be true that I'm not really the most experienced driver in the world but I am a good reliable driver… reliable for my age anyways and—,"

"_**Eren.**__"_

The use of his first name was rare, significant, and led to immediate silence when employed.

An exasperated sigh. "Go home, Eren."Followed by the nearly inaudible click the brunette had been dreading all along.  
  
Go home, Eren.

The sick feeling it had given him in his stomach had lasted to the present, leaving the teen with dark circles underneath his red eyes. He didn't even want to imagine what Levi would think of the way he looked when he came in at one for his daily coffee before heading home for the day. Would he notice Eren's bitten-down nails at the register? Would he scold him for starting up such a dirty habit again?

Shit. Maybe he should put on some rubber gloves and say he was cleaning. Pissed off Levi was not something Eren wanted to see. He'd ended his year in a shitty way already, best not ruin the first day of the new one any more than it already had been.

Looking over between the aisles, the brunette noticed that the direction-demanding-customer had left and Annie had long since returned to reorganizing  
shelves. Looking lazily out at the massive windows at the front of the store, he stared at the sun as it hung low in the sky, painting the clouds a pale pink…

Wait. _Sunset?_

Whipping around, he looked with accusatory shock at the clock hanging on the wall behind him.

"Shift ended two minutes ago," the blonde girl murmured, her blue eyes running over his face expressionlessly. Beneath the look, though, Eren knew indictment lie. _You're off_, the look hid.

A slow, nervous, and fake laugh passed his lips. "Sorry… Got a little distracted there. I'll just punch out then…"

And as he twisted around to the computer to do just that, he felt his stomach twist in the same way.

How had he _not noticed that Levi hadn't come?_ It'd been the one thing he enjoyed about working for the past three weeks. Not that Levi was essential to his productivity, or something… But seriously, why wasn't he **there**?

As if in answer, Eren's stomach seemed to drop.  
_  
"Go home, Eren._"

Another nervous laugh escaped his lips. It wasn't like Levi thought he was immature or anything, right? Levi was just busy. Probably with work or something… Even incredibly organized and efficient people had to stay late sometimes. _Very_ late, considering that it was five thirty and he got off at noon… But still. No way in hell that Levi could pass up coffee voluntarily. It wasn't like he didn't want to see him.

Right?

Well… it didn't matter now. The brunette had homework that he'd been planning to procrastinate on. Grabbing his wallet, keys, and jacket from the back, Eren made his way around the counter just in time to avoid the customer that had just entered the store. Waving his goodbyes somewhat dejectedly to his coworker, the sophomore turned to leave—

Only to see Levi himself standing at the edge of the floor mat, arms crossed and with some sort of delicious-smelling plastic bag of takeout hanging from the appendage and _holy __**shit**__ that's Levi in casual wear_.

"What are you looking at, Jaeger?" It was then that the brunette belatedly looked up to notice the expectant look on the older man's face.

Those incredibly tight jeans, Eren answered internally as his heart clenched. Hope really was the worst, wasn't it? He bit at his lip in a vain effort to rid himself of the bitter taste in his mouth.

"My shift's over," he said dryly, hoping that Levi would forget for once in his life that Eren hadn't actually answered his original question. "Annie can help you out."

He felt his bottom lip tremble before he could sense the tears coming.  
_  
Oh God.  
_  
Levi was talking, something in his extra-sarcastic tone—probably the lecture about answering someone's inquiry with "an actual goddamn answer, not some shit you want to throw in for conversation,"—and Eren honestly just wanted to get out of the store.  
_  
Don't look at me._

Move. I want to go home.  
  
"Oi, Jaeger! Are you fucking listening?"

Damn his mouth if it didn't keep itself shut. "Not really." Well.

The hand shaking his head by the roots of his hair didn't really surprise the teen. Not like its accompanying words did.

"Well _listen_, you little shit. I'll be damned if I'm going to pick you up after your shift ends and take your shitty attitude over to my home after you couldn't follow _directions to get there yourself_."

"Well I _know that I'm not mature enough for you to hang around, okay?! _So—so…" Wait. Pick up? Take over? "Oh."  
_  
Oh_.

The look on Levi's face was a humbling experience for the brunette. "Shut _up_, Jaeger, and get the fuck in my car. You can tell me what the hell that bullshit's supposed to mean on the way."

Eren knew that he was in deep, but the shit eating grin that had plastered itself over his face didn't show any signs of leaving.

_It's not how you end the year._

It's how you start the next.


End file.
